A New York man has been charged with committing a lewd act during a showing of “The Emoji Movie” last week in Howell, police said Thursday night.
Abraham Y. Parnes, 43, who has addresses in both Brooklyn and Lakewood, was identified through anonymous tips and turned himself in to Howell police on Thursday night, Detective Sgt. Christian Antunez said. Parnes was charged with lewdness, which is a disorderly persons offense, and released on a summons, Antunez said.
On July 28, a woman watching the movie with her children and friends noticed a man sitting in the back row of the theater by himself with his pants unbuttoned and unzipped and his hand down his pants, Antunez said.
The woman reported the incident to management and described the man as a heavy-set white male in his 20s or 30s, wearing a white dress shirt, black pants and a yarmulke on his head. The man had a goatee and/or beard, Antunez said.
Management responded and escorted the man out of the building, and the woman called police and reported the incident when she got home, he said.
Antunez said disorderly persons offenses do not result in arrests under New Jersey law so Parnes was not held but must appear in court on the charge.
